ryan bodenheim

Ninjak became a ninja when an undead monk psychically commanded him to train. The thing is, Ninjak isn't the Undead Monk's only student. There are six more. And while Ninjak did a pretty thorough (and violent) job of taking them out in the book's first arc, it seems that they've found new a new employer: the mystical and sinister Master Darque. Meet the Seven Blades of Master Darque in the new arc by Marc Laming and Matt Kindt, kicking off in Ninjak #23 in January.

Who doesn't love a buddy comedy? There's something about a pair of mismatched heroes that are meant to be doing something serious that keeps getting derailed by how incompatible they are. It's a formula that almost always works, whether it's something like couple of of cops where one is straitlaced and by-the-books and the other is a little wild, or if one of the cops is a British ninja super-spy and the other is the magically immortal fist and steel of the Earth itself, and instead of crime they're fighting magical spiders. Also, it all happens in the future. And Michel Fiffe does a cover for it. So maybe it's not your standard buddy comedy, but Ninjak #20 has some pretty great moments between Colin King and the guest-starring Eternal Warrior. Check it out a preview!

When Ninjak #18 hits shelves in August, it's kicking off the time-bending The Fist & The Steel crossover, in which the Eternal Warrior teams up with Ninjak for futuristic immortal ninja action.

Debuting later this month from Image Comics, The Dying & The Dead is the latest collaboration between Jonathan Hickman and Ryan Bodenheim, following A Red Mass For Mars and Secret. I was able to read issue #1 in advance, in the form of a lettered "first draft," and it is immediately notable for three reasons in particular: The Dying & The Dead takes a decidedly more personal approach to the theme of mortality that Hickman's been exploring in epic fashion in his New Avengers and East of West projects; the artwork by Bodenheim is his career best, not just in terms of technical drawing ability, but in the sense of pure graphic storytelling; and the huge page count makes a compelling case for big first issues.

I've been a fan of Jonathan Hickman's work at Image ever since he hit the ground running with The Nightly News, and the thing I tend to love most about those projects is how unrelentingly high-concept they are. There's always a new hook that I've never seen before, whether it's a satire about super-powered mutant apes or an ongoing series featuring real-life historical figures involved in truly ridiculous acts of mad science. As a result, if you tell me that Hickman and artist Ryan Bodenheim, who worked together on Red Mass For Mars, are doing a new series together called The Dying and the Dead, then my first question is "what's the high concept?" And that's when I found out that they're referring to it as "Indiana Jones for old people," and I'm pretty much sold.

Opened with a keynote address by Publisher Eric Stephenson that emphasized personalities and relationships in the comic book scene, the first Image Comics Expo in Oakland, California, came with more major publishing announcements than we expected...

In the aftermath of celebrating the return of the Fearsome Four in their new Fear Itself miniseries, you might easily have forgotten that Red Mass for Mars and Halcyon artist Ryan Bodenheim is going to be contributing to the book. That's completely understandable, but you do need to be aware that this guy can draw...

Marvel's Man-Thing has earned a pretty heroic reputation of late in the pages of Jeff Parker and Kev Walker's Thunderbolts, but his trademark burning touch may prove to be a liability to the Marvel U during Fear Itself. Leave it to Howard the Duck, She-Hulk, Frankenstein's Monster and Nighthawk to fight to save a threatened New York City from his mossy touch starting this June in Fear Itself: Fear